French Exam - BEPC Session 2023

This official French examination for the Brevet d'Etudes du Premier Cycle (BEPC), 2023 session, is a comprehensive document assessing essential linguistic skills of ninth-grade students. It comprises three sections: spelling correction, written expression, and text analysis.

Part 1: Spelling Correction

The proposed text is a news story from the newspaper Sud quotidien (1997) by I. Faye. It recounts the misadventure of M.T.D., a non-commissioned officer in the Senegalese army, falsely accused of stealing the Tabaski sheep and beaten by his own family. In reality, he was waiting for a sheep sent from his village, but a mix-up with another person's sheep caused the misunderstanding. Candidates must identify and correct fifteen errors across various categories: punctuation, accents, capitalization, word breaks, simple spelling, spelling with semantic impact, and grammar.

Part 2: Written Expression

Two topics are offered for choice:

• Topic 1 (Argumentative text): Based on an excerpt from The Art of Educating a Child by Father Joseph Duhr, the candidate must address youth violence in family and school settings. They recount an act of violence, present its causes and consequences, then suggest solutions for education stakeholders.
• Topic 2 (Argumentative text): The candidate raises awareness among classmates about the importance of sleep for academic success. They tell the story of a student who failed an exam due to lack of sleep, explain the importance of rest and the negative consequences of sleep deprivation, then propose practical tips.

Part 3: Text Analysis

The supporting text is an excerpt from Nouvelles histoires pressees by Bernard Friot, which tells the original story of a child whose entire education is computer-programmed by his parents (a psychologist and a computer engineer). The child eventually destroys the program, thus accomplishing his last mischief. Questions assess:

• Comprehension (10 points): title and justification, parents' professions, programmed tasks, parental reactions, alternative educational methods.
• Language knowledge and usage (10 points): vocabulary explanation, computer lexical field, morphological decomposition, verb tenses and moods, clause analysis and grammatical functions.

A detailed answer key is included for all three parts with grading scales. This document is an essential preparation tool for BEPC candidates. The themes addressed are modern and relevant to teenagers' concerns: school violence, sleep, and digital education.

Target audience: ninth-grade students, BEPC candidates in Cameroon and French-speaking Africa.